Sheriff Chitwood: Voting No On Amendment 3 (Recreational Marijuana)

Date Added: October 04, 2024 11:32 am

Sheriff Mike Chitwood has joined his fellow sheriffs and the Florida Sheriffs Association in opposition to Amendment 3, which proposes the legalization of recreational marijuana in Florida.

A summary of concerns about Amendment 3 from Sheriff Chitwood:

Amendment 3 would establish a monopoly for large, mostly out-of-state corporations to dominate what could be a $6 billion industry in Florida. Essentially, marijuana legalization is the next Big Tobacco.

I believe the purpose of Amendment 3 is NOT to legalize, decriminalize and make marijuana available for adults in Florida, but rather to enrich those that funded and wrote the amendment.

Regardless of intent, the effects of Amendment 3 carry public safety risks. Legalization of marijuana for recreational use will cause increases in crime rates, adolescent use, traffic crashes, and addiction.

Under Amendment 3, the proposed legal limit in Florida would be the largest in America. It would be 3 times the limits in California and Colorado.

Those states have seen negative public safety effects and far less tax revenue than proponents predicted. According to 2022 data from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 38 percent of fatally injured drivers tested positive for marijuana in states with legalized recreational and medical marijuana. In Colorado, THC-involved driving fatalities increased 138 percent since legalization.

Close to 50 percent of teen marijuana users admit to driving under the influence. Drivers impaired by both marijuana and alcohol are 25 times more likely to cause a fatal crash than non-impaired drivers.

The marijuana that exists today is not the same marijuana that existed in decades past. Today's cannabis products are significantly more potent, rising from an average of 3.75% THC content in 1995 to 15.8% in 2018. High potency THC users face 3 to 5 times the risk of psychosis.

Emergency room visits or hospitalizations related to marijuana abuse increased 89 percent in California and 148 percent in Colorado following the enaction of recreational marijuana laws. Additionally, people who used marijuana were 3 times more likely to use an opioid, and twice as likely to abuse prescription opioids.

In 2019, the death rates from all opioids and fentanyl were 44 to 50 percent higher in places where marijuana was legalized compared to those where it was not.

All these factors and more have convinced me that Amendment 3 is the wrong approach to this issue for Florida. We need to find a solution that protects the health and safety of our residents rather than selling them out to the recreational marijuana industry.

Click here for a presentation on these facts and more on Amendment 3.